Category: food photography

Miss Polly’s Pumpkin Patch Cranberry Walnut Cakes

Soon these fantastic silicone molds from Fresh Ware are going to be filled with a wonderful batter with pumpkin puree making the cakes moist, Sweet Quick Bread Mix making it easy, and, thanks to my dear friend Leo who gave me  some dried cranberries and walnuts which will add adding a slightly tart sweetness and a nutty crunch.


Three and a half cups sweet quick bread mix*

1/3 cup olive oil or canola oil

1 cup mashed pumpkin

2 eggs beaten or 1/2 cup egg substitute

One half cup of Dannon vanilla yogurt

 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

What happens when freshly grated  nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins if you like

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. I used Watkins pure Madagascar vanilla extract

Mix all the liquid ingredients together in your KitchenAid mixer for in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or sturdy rubber spatula. Gradually add in there sweet quick bread mix, stirring thoroughly and then add in the cranberries and walnuts last. 

Mix thoroughly and then spray non-stick spray in  some muffin pans. I use silicone pans from fresh where and I absolutely love it because nothing sticks in them once you spray very lightly with vegetable oil spray.

I portioned out the batter in the muffin cups by using a stainless steel scoop. There’s no better way of doing it.

 I also don’t get better smeared all over the pan. 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees or use your convection oven and you’ll have to judge the amount of time that you make these, depending on if you use a convection oven or conventional oven.

I baked mind about 35 minutes at 350 degrees in my Cuisinart convection oven, with a convection oven turned on. 

I can bake conventional style or convection oven in my new Cuisinart oven. Just look for the oven door and when they look like they’re brown on top then test with a toothpick common if they testclear I know better sticking to the tooth pick,  then they are done.

Enjoy plain or iced or dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Easy vanilla glaze- Take one cup of confectioner’s sugar and add one or two tablespoons of evaporated milk to it plus 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon pure vanilla and then mix until well combined. Drizzle on the cakes with a piping tube or you can put the icing in a quart size Ziploc bag and then cut off the edge and then squirt it out onto the cakes in an artful manner.

ALL Recipes and photos by Paulette Motzko

November 14th-15th, 2016

November 18th, 2016

Pumpkin Patch Snack Cake shaped like a sunflower decorated with colored sugars after removing from the silicone pan. The steam makes the sugar stick.

You can make up the batter and then just bake up what you want and then freeze the rest of the batter in a freezer bag or container. Then, when you want a bake again, simply just take out the container or freezer bag  about an hour or two before you’re going to bake and the make some lovin’ from your oven! Sorry Pillsbury!
Polly Motzko

by paulettemotzko

Banana Cinnamon Granola

image

Dry ingredients

3-1/2 cups Quaker quick-cooking oatmeal
2/3 cup Trader Joe’s toasted oat bran
One cup bran flakes
1 cup Granvita or other high grain cereal.
1 cup raisins or your choice dried chopped fruit-add in last after you cook the granola, otherwise the fruit will be dried out!
Wet ingredients

2 bananas
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon or more ground cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together the magic bullet or in a small food processor your hand mixer or however you want to do it but they really mix the banana and with the other ingredients.

image

Pour the banana mixture over all of your oats, toasted oat bran and other dry ingredients and mix thoroughly with a spatula.

Pour into two pie pans and then rotate each pan in the microwave at three minute intervals.

Total time you’ll cook each pie pan is about 10 minutes stirring, in between every three minutes.

You want the granola to be dry and crunchy and not moist it all.
So just keep cooking, stirring occasionally until it’s like the granola you buy in the store, only better!

The granola is going to cook a little bit in the hot pans, so just let them set there on trivets or pot holders for about an hour.

What you’ll need is about 6 cups of dry ingredients and those can include:

Dry ingredient Choices are-Rolled oats, quick cooking oats, almonds, pecans, macadamia nuts, coconut, Ancient Grains, chia seed, amaranth, quinoa.


You can make they’re really great granola cereal out of the odds and ends cereal that you have in your cupboards too.

I’m sure in time you’ll come up with your own ideas too.

image

image

Coming soon will be a lower fat version of this one where I use some fruit juice concentrate for some of the oil in the recipe and I’m going to see how that works out so stay tuned!

Recipe adapted by Paulette Motzko from “Get-up-and-go-Granola from the book “Microwave Cooking for Kids” from Better Homes and Gardens.


by paulettemotzko